Daily Archives: April 21, 2012

It was an overly dull London derby as Arsenal played out a goalless draw with Chelsea, a result fans of the Blues will be happier with but one that may well have ended their Champions League ambition from the Premier League point of view.

As for us, we were absent for much of the first half against a second string Chelsea. Captain van Persie hit the post (yet again) and the highly impressive Koscielny was denied by the crossbar.

Below is the player ratings…

Player RatingsSzczesny – 7
Assured performance from the Pole on his 50th Premier League appearance for us.

Sagna – 6
Good game as well on his century of matches for Arsenal.

Vermaelen – 7
When RvP hit the post off Walcott’s freekick, Vermaelen was next to him ready to pounce. Turn the 5 upside down and add a line where necessary… you have a makeshift 9. And he defends very well too, that we all know.

Koscielny – 8.5
Sterling performance from the Frenchman, especially in the second half. Unfortunate to have the bar deny him after losing his marker well.

Gibbs – 6.5
Good game from him.

Song – 7.5
A rock in midfield. Delivered some good balls and dispossessed the visitors on a number of occasions.

Ramsey – 3
He did throw a cool long ball for RvP in the second half. He however lost possession too many times, lingering on the ball when his job was to keep the game going.

Keep the faith here gooners…

Rosicky – 7
Was at a loss when he was substituted, then got word that he’s been ill recently. Good game from him nonetheless, felt he could have played a bit longer.

Oxlade-Chamberlain – 5
Not the Ox we’ve come to love. Troubled the Chelsea back with his agility at times but brought little to the match.

Walcott – 5
Went off with a hamstring injury, hopefully not a serious one. Had an average game.

Van Persie – 5
Let’s be honest here, our captain vantastic hasn’t been the Robin that had us no longer needing a Batman lately. Now, he’s gone over 11 hours without a goal from open play, that’s not right!

Substitutes

Gervinho – 5

Diaby – 5
Thankfully, he saw this through unlike when he came on at Liverpool.

Santos – N/A

Summarily, we go six points clear with three games to play but Sp*ds and Newcastle now have two games more to play. When you do the math, today’s point is actually valuable. We just would’ve preferred three.